Building a Mass Transit system is an idea that's long overdue for Honolulu, and I'm all for finding a solution to help the rush-hour crunch. However, from what I've seen, none the proposed Fixed Rail plans will make a noticeable difference on peoples' commute times.
The way I see it, the best impact on Commute Times can be made if the Mass Transit System can service College Students from Leeward Oahu going to UH Manoa and back. I don't care what the Transit Technology is, as long as we all agree on the expected Return on Investment (ROI) -- reduced commute times during peak hours.
Unfortunately, Honolulu made a grievous error: they elected the Polynesian equivalent of Senator Ted Stevens. However, instead of building a Bridge to Nowhere, Mayor Mufi Hannemann is pushing to build a Fixed Rail System to Nowhere, and will stop at nothing to get that damn thing built.
Here's what bothers me about Mufi's plans and the tactics used to railroad Honolulu into building a Flawed Fixed Rail system:
Fixed Rail Proposals Won't Meet The Need
None of the Fixed Rail plans will extend from Kapolei to UH Manoa in the initial phases. Alternative Plans like an enhanced Bus System do. In fact, recent articles suggest it'll only run from Kapolei to Pearl City? WTF, Pearl City is THE congestion point we need to alleviate, since the H1/H2 Merge is just awful. Despite this key limitation of the Fixed Rail proposals, Honolulu's politicians insist that Fixed Rail is the way to go.
The spin machine is hard at work
Recently, a "Selection Committee" decided upon a Steel on Steel system. For crying out loud, the City hasn't settled on Fixed Rails and ruled out the Alternatives yet. Hannemann has his blinders on, and he thinks that by creating a Bogus Selection Committee, the People of Honolulu will be brainwashed into accepting his solution.
Residents are ALREADY Paying Into the Fund
Despite the fact that no Mass Transit plan has been approved, Honolulu Residents are pre-paying into a Bogus State Fund to cover the costs. Yes, Hannemann coerced the State into increasing the State Excise Tax to fund a Mass Transit project. Earlier this year, though, Hawaii's State Legislature introduced a bill to force Honolulu to commit to a plan by June 30, or forfeit the collected Funds from the Excise Tax increase.
"Federal Funding Be Damned, Let's Build It!"
With opposition from the State, and the uncertainty of receiving Federal Funds (notice the Dulles Airport rail system isn't well received), Mayor Hannemann knows he's in trouble. In fact, Hannemann is scrambling to jump-start his Fixed Rail system – without a plan, without community approval, and now, without Federal Funding.
Honolulu has NOT explored all available options. Here are a few Mass Transit proposals I have of my own:
Increase Vehicle Registration Fees
The idea is to make it PAINFUL to own and drive a vehicle. While increased gas prices helps, nothing is more motivating than an Annual Fee to own and operate a vehicle. By making it painful to own and drive vehicles, you motivate people into seeking out alternative means of transportation.
Improve Bus System
This should go without saying. All cities need a bus system to move people around, and Honolulu isn't doing enough.
Reduce Bus Fees
C'mon, $2-per-way bus fees? It's no wonder people don't use the bus: It costs about as much to drive your own vehicle! With all the money collected from the Excise Tax increase, surely we can get that down to $0.50, or even *gasp* MAKE IT FREE!
Schedule More Buses
Buses don't come around quickly enough. Some rural routes are hourly, other routes are half-hour, and the busiest routes have service every 15 minutes. The bus system should be designed to have several "circuit" buses that run every 15 minutes in outlying regions, connected to a regional Station. Then you have "Mass Transit" bus lines (i.e. Express Buses) that run at least 30 minutes apart (ideally 15 minutes or less) to connect the Stations together. People jump on their local circuit bus at home to get to their nearest Station, and then jump on an Express Bus to get to the Station closest to their destination, and then finally jump on another circuit bus to get as close to their destination as possible.
Secure Buses
Let's face it: Nobody likes to ride the bus because there isn't any security on the bus. We should encourage police officers to use the bus system for security and for personal transportation as part of their beat.
Improve Park & Ride System
"Mass Transit" (Hub-to-Hub) Stations should have Park & Ride parking lots. This gives Commuters the ability to go to and from their own front doors (which is a convenience they demand).
More Park & Ride Lots
Lots that aren't part of a Mass Transit Station would be connected to the Station by a circuit bus. To encourage people to use these "satellite" Park & Ride lots, we could offer discounted Mass Transit Fares if purchased (and originated from) that satellite station.
Secure Park & Ride Lots
Again, security is the number one problem this plan will face. We need security personnell to ensure vehicles parked at all Park & Ride Lots aren't easy targets for criminals.
Improve Taxi System
Most commuters want "door-to-door" service, and they currently get that by driving their own vehicles. The ONLY way my proposed plan would work is if Taxi Service is improved. With Taxis, commuters would get "door-to-door" equivalent service like this: drive from their Home to a Park&Ride lot, take the Mass Transit bus, arrive at their destination Station, and take a Taxi to their final destination. Of course, Taxi Fees need to be reasonable - I think with increased adoption through my proposed Plan, we can reduce Taxi Fares and still maintain profitability for those in the Taxi industry.
And hey, don't laugh or scoff at my proposed Mass Transit plan. At least I HAVE a plan, and it took me barely 5 minutes to jot down my ideas. Hannemann doesn't have a plan - he wants to get the City of Honolulu to commit to building something that a team of Consultants will decide upon. My oh my, something stinks in Honolulu.
not bad ideas
Making transit more frequent, more reliable, and easier to use is a great idea. The probelm is, adding buses and park and rides and taxis to the current system is just going to clog it up more. I've lived and visited lots of cities with a rail system, and they work great. Go to Protland or Vancourver, or San Diegeo and you have a choice drive, get caught in traffic, or take a train that always gets you to the same place at the same time. LA is interesting. Parts of the city only have bus, while part has light rail. It can take hours to get through traffic on a local bus there, but if you are going where the rail goes, it will get you there fast and reliable.
Now, I got a problem with free buses. We don't have enough homeless shelters here, and if you make the bus free, the back half of the bus becomes a nice A/C place to nap all day. Doesn't leave much clean plesant space for those of us that take the bus to work.
Now most folks who want to use the rail are going to be able to walk. I was looking at the line and the census data. A lot of people live in walking distance (10 to 15 min walk) to the rail, and even more of the jobs here are in walking distance. So I think the rail by itself is going to be door to door for huge numbers of people. For the others there are some good ideas here.
The park and rides will work. Around San Francisco they are full every day. But only because people can get on a BART train at them. They are a good part of the rail solution.
Taxis too, they may do pretty well with rail. Nobody wants to pay $20 or $30 everyday to take a taxi and still be stuck in traffic, but if you can take the train, then get out and take a $5 cab ride home, that is pretty nice.
And that steel on steel thing, I don't know why people have problems with it. It is the way to go. There is a reason San Diego and LA and San Francisco and Denver and Salt Lake and... all bult steel on steel. They work. The Las Vegas monorail had parts falling off when they started it up. With only a monorail below the vehicle, those fell straight to the ground. Cant happen with a steel wheel system. You are going to carry a lot more people with a lot less maintenance and it is going to be way cheaper to buy the train cars because we can get them from lots of people. It is like buying a computer. If you decide you want to buy a mac it is going to look cool, but will cost you a lot more than a PC because only Apple make it. With the PC HP and Dell are going to fight for your money.
I wish some of you who object
I wish some of you who object to fixed rail transit would take a ride from Ewa to Honolulu on any given day (weekends included). The problem with more buses is that they just operate in the same traffic lanes as all the other cars and trucks and they are not reliable. One remedy would be to block off regular traffic lanes for exclusive bus lanes like the previous Harris Administration plan for Bus Rapid Transit. But BRT sunk like a lead baloon once the public found out they would be losing lanes on Dillingham, Kapiolani and in Waikiki.
Believe me, I'm a fan of TheBus and I think the city does a good job. But the biggest complaint I hear is that the buses don't run on time because they get stuck in traffic. A rail system separated from existing traffic, which would be the elevated guideway is the best solution for reliability. Immune from traffic jams, accidents and weather. So it would take 28 minutes from Waipahu to Ala Moana Shopping Center all day, every day....not like a car or bus that takes you 25 minutes one day, then an hour the next due to a traffic accident.
That is a solution we can put our money on.
Why no consideration of.............
An elevated expressway from Kapolei to Manoa with limited exits. Only have on/off ramps at Kapolei, Pearl City, Airport, Town, and Manoa. Construct an elevated expressway and charge a toll to use it. This is how things are done in big cities in Texas (Dallas, Houston, etc). Traffic moves well and it pays for itself by charging users a toll. There are even express lanes for cars with a prepaid tag in their car. This seems just as feasible as an elvated railway. I would pay $50 a month to use such a service.